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THE NEW YORKER, DECEMBER 24 & 31, 2012
LETTER FROM UGANDA
OUT IN AFRICA
A gay-rights struggle with deadly stakes.
BY ALEXIS OKEOWO
Frank Mugisha, the head of the organization Sexual Minorities Uganda.
On a breezy October night two years
ago, Frank Mugisha was having a
beer with friends in Kampala, Ugan-
da s capital. They had gathered at a gay-
friendly bar called Tcozy, in a congested
area full of pubs popular with students
from Makerere University. Over the
sound of screeching karaoke, Mugisha
heard his name and turned to see a friend
holding up a newspaper. It was a local
tabloid called Rolling Stone, and the
headline on the front page, next to pho-
tographs of Mugisha s friends David
Kato, a gay activist, and Christopher Se-
nyonjo, a human-rights advocate and
former Anglican bishop, read "100 PIC
TURES OF UGANDA S TOP HOMOS
LEAK." The tagline was "Hang Them."
Mugisha opened the paper to an article
featuring his name, along with that of his
boyfriend, Ronnie, and those of several
friends. In some cases, their addresses,
including Ronnie s, were also listed, and
there were photos clearly taken from
Facebook profiles. The paper had made
up quotes, and said that those named
were using money and gifts to "recruit"
new homosexuals, and were hosting or-
gies and infiltrating schools to enlist chil-
dren. Mugisha, fearing a violent reaction
from the public, worried for his friends.
The next morning, Mugisha took a
copy of the paper to the modest bunga-
low that serves as the headquarters of
Sexual Minorities Uganda, or SMUG, the
country s largest gay-rights organization,
which he leads. He scanned the article
and e-mailed it to other gay-rights activ-
ists and lawyers. The fallout was imme-
diate: the house of a transgender man
whose name was on the tabloid s list was
stoned by a crowd shouting, "We will kill
you!" David Kato, at that time Uganda s
best-known gay activist, began receiving
death threats; he was murdered three
months later. Police put the murder
down to a random home invasion. But
activists think that the killer, who also
robbed Kato, was motivated by the com-
mon perception in Uganda that gays are
sent money and gifts by international do-
nors. Ronnie, Mugisha s boyfriend of five
years, was harassed and threatened by his
own family and eventually fled to the
United States. Ronnie s mother and his
father, who owns a major business in
Kampala, both learned that he was gay
from the article. (Although activists are
open about their work and much of their
lives, many L.G.B.T. Ugandans I inter-
viewed did not want to be identified by
their full names.)
In 2009, a year before the article was
published, David Bahati, a Ugandan
politician, had introduced an anti-ho-
mosexuality bill to parliament. Com-
monly known as the "Kill the Gays"
bill, it included a proposal to impose the
death penalty on Ugandans who en-
gaged in what it called "aggravated ho-
mosexuality," which means gay sex when
one partner is H.I.V.-positive, disabled,
a "serial offender," or a minor. Bahati
told me that the death-penalty provision
has been replaced by one calling for a life
sentence, but, even so, any amendment
to the bill as it stands has to go through
parliament. And the bill remains trou-
bling. If someone is found to be "pro-
moting" homosexuality, he could be
imprisoned for up to seven years. The
broadly defined category of touching
with "the intention to commit an act of
homosexuality" can also bring a sentence
of up to seven years.
When the Rolling Stone article came
out, L.G.B.T. activists, already feeling
under attack from the bill, which had not
yet been put to a vote, decided to sue the
paper for defamation and inciting vio-
lence. SMUG led the initiative, and last
March I visited the group s headquarters,
where eight activists occupy four sparsely
furnished rooms. Mugisha s office is
the locus of activity. The walls are clut-
tered with photographs of him at various
awards ceremonies and conferences,
along with postcards from well-wishers
PHOTOGRAPH BY JONATHAN TORGOVNIK
REPORTAGE BY GETTY IMAGES